Ridership Up, Service Better, RTD Says : Transit: Report shows 3.7% more took buses and trains in first nine months of fiscal year. Vandalism, breakdowns and employee drug use have dropped.

Rapid Transit District bus and rail ridership jumped 3.7% in the first nine months of fiscal 1991, while vandalism, breakdowns, employee drug use and absenteeism dropped, RTD President Nikolas Patsaouras said Friday.

He also said that service expanded and driver courtesy improved.

Patsaouras’ upbeat “state of the district” report was issued to document the RTD’s effort to “recapture the public’s confidence” after a series of scandals, including embezzlement by mechanics, drug abuse by drivers and a jump in bus violence capped by the fatal shooting of a man on a bus in Beverly Hills two weeks ago.

The district also faces contract negotiations with its bus drivers, some of whom already have said they will press for a strike vote authorizing a walkout. United Transportation Union President Earl Clark said that no such vote is likely until after talks have had a month to work.

Patsaouras was undaunted.

“The state of the district is simple: We are on course, on budget for fiscal year 1991 and one of the best transit operators in the nation,” he said.

As evidence, Patsaouras said that the RTD has tried to ease overcrowding on the region’s busiest lines by adding 35 buses to its 2,500-bus fleet, the second-largest in the country. He added that, despite President Bush’s plans to cut operating subsidies to big cities, the RTD plans to go to Washington seeking more federal money to further expand its fleet.

The RTD now averages 3.82 accidents for every 100,000 miles, the lowest rate since 1984, Patsaouras said. General Manager Alan F. Pegg said drug and alcohol use also has fallen, with 1.14% of RTD workers testing positive for drug use last March, compared to 20.5% in 1986.

Pegg described the RTD testing program as “the nation’s most rigorous drug abuse policy” for transit agencies.

Absenteeism also fell for both drivers and mechanics, Pegg said. Driver attendance increased by 18% in 1989 and by 16% in 1990, according to a survey conducted by an independent consulting firm, Booz Allen & Hamilton. The number of days missed fell from an average of 49.3 a year in 1986 to 31.8 in 1990. Mechanic attendance improved 15% last year.

Driver courtesy, measured by how consistently drivers announce the location of stops as the bus arrives at each one, also improved. RTD says 90% of the stops are announced now, compared to 44% a year ago.

RTD buses break down every 4,745 miles, on average. Drivers say that is because of the district’s reluctance to do preventive maintenance. But RTD officials note that the new average is an improvement over last year, when repairs in the field were required every 4,100 miles.

The RTD has kept 90% of its buses free of graffiti this year, compared to 80% a year ago, Patsaouras said.